評論
打印
7.The Lies Made by Novelists
7.小說家編造的謊言
I have come to Jerusalem today as a novelist, which is to say as a professional spinner of lies.
今天我作為一個小說家來到耶路撒冷，也就是說，作為一個職業撒謊者。
Of course, novelists are not the only ones who tell lies. Politicians do it, too, as we all know. Diplomats and generals tell their own kinds of lies on occasion, as do used car salesmen, butchers and builders. The lies of novelists differ from others, however, in that no one criticizes the novelist as immoral for telling lies. Indeed, the bigger and better his lies and the more ingeniously he creates them, the more he is likely to be praised by the public and the critics. Why should that be?
當然，并不只有小說家才撒謊。政治家也做這個，我們都知道。外交官和軍人有時也說他們自己的那種說，二手車銷售員、肉販和建筑商也是。但小說家的謊言與其他人的不同，因為沒有人會批評小說家說謊不道德。甚至，他說的謊言越好、越大、制造謊言的方式越有獨創性，他就越有可能受到公眾和評論家的表揚。為什么會這樣呢？
My answer would be this: namely, that by telling skilful lies-which is to say by making up fictions that appear to be true---the novelist can bring a truth out to a new place and shine a new light on it. In most cases, it is virtually impossible to grasp a truth in its original form and depict it accurately. This is why we try to grab its tail by luring the truth from its hiding place, transferring it to a fictional location, and replacing it with a fictional form. In order to accomplish this, however, we first have to clarify where the truth-lies within us, within ourselves. This is an important qualification for making up good lies.
我的回答會是這樣：即，通過講述精巧的謊言——也就是說，通過編造看起來是真實的虛構故事——小說家能夠把一種真實帶到新的地方，賦予它新的見解。在多數情況下，要以原初的形態領會一個事實并準確描繪它，幾乎是不可能的。因此我們把事實從它的藏身之處誘出，將之轉移到虛構之地，用虛構的形式取而代之，以試圖抓住它的尾巴。然而，為了完成這點，我們必須首先理清在我們之中真實在哪兒。要編造優秀的謊言，這是一種重要的資質。
I truly believe it is the novelist's job to keep trying to clarify the uniqueness of each individual soul by writing stories---stories of life and death, stories of love, stories that make people cry and quake with fear and shake with laughter. This is why we go on, day after day, concocting fictions with utter seriousness.
我完全相信，小說家的任務是通過寫故事來不斷試圖理清每個個體靈魂的獨特性——生與死的故事，愛的故事，使人哭泣、使人害怕得發抖和捧腹大笑的故事。這就是為什么我們日復一日，以極其嚴肅的態度編造著虛構故事的原因。
